Monday, February 22, 2016

Why Most Millennials Will Not Survive What Is Coming

In a world where college students demand "safe zones" and "trigger warnings" in order to avoid the uncomfortable reality that surrounds them, and where exposing corruption and speaking the truth is automatically labeled "doom and gloom," we are creating a nation, a future generation, that will be incapable of surviving any life-altering event or disaster, natural or man-made, will be unable to even function because they will be too busy whining about the unfairness of it all, despite the fact that they have seen the warnings for years, but chose to ignore them.

This morning I ran across an "open letter" from an employee, a 25 year old, to her CEO..... first I thought it was satire, then searched a little and found it was not, and I have to admit, with all we write about, the things we expose to the light of day, I still find myself flabbergasted at some of the things I see.

This woman who seems to have the mentality of a over-protected child that throws a temper tantrum whenever everything isn't handed to her on a silver platter, was castigating her employer for the choices she made.

She admits in her open letter that she chose to accept a job that paid "$733.24, bi-weekly," (Totalling 1,466.48 monthly) and chose to rent an apartment that costs $1245 a month. She also chose, in her own words to "put a bunch of debt on a shiny new credit card to afford the move."

Anyone else thinking right about now that perhaps she "majored in English literature," because she wasn't all that good with simple mathematics?

She also admits to recieving full medical benefits as part of the job package, stating "Let’s talk about those benefits, though. They’re great. I’ve got vision, dental, the normal health insurance stuff — and as far as I can tell, I don’t have to pay for any of it! Except the copays. $20 to see a doctor or get an eye exam or see a therapist or get medication....."

A few key quotes from the letter, to which can be read in its entirety at Meduim. (Make sure to read the comments because some of them are priceless!)

I haven’t bought groceries since I started this job. Not because I’m lazy, but because I got this ten pound bag of rice before I moved here and my meals at home (including the one I’m having as I write this) consist, by and large, of that. Because I can’t afford to buy groceries. Bread is a luxury to me, even though you’ve got a whole fridge full of it on the 8th floor. But we’re not allowed to take any of that home because it’s for at-work eating. Of which I do a lot. Because 80 percent of my income goes to paying my rent.

So the jobs also provides food, in fact according to the job description as well as her own acknowledgment, they have a "fully stocked kitchen" on-site.

Will you pay my phone bill for me? I just got a text from T-Mobile telling me my bill is due. I got paid yesterday ($733.24, bi-weekly) but I have to save as much of that as possible to pay my rent ($1245) for my apartment that’s 30 miles away from work because it was the cheapest place I could find that had access to the train, which costs me $5.65 one way to get to work. That’s $11.30 a day, by the way. I make $8.15 an hour after taxes. I also have to pay my gas and electric bill. Last month it was $120. According to the infograph on PG&E’s website, that cost was because I used my heater.I’ve since stopped using my heater. Have you ever slept fully clothed under several blankets just so you don’t get a cold and have to miss work? Have you ever drank a liter of water before going to bed so you could fall asleep without waking up a few hours later with stomach pains because the last time you ate was at work? I woke up today with stomach pains. I made myself a bowl of rice.

After stating earlier in her snarky, nasty letter to her CEO that many of those that work with her are struggling and "taking on side jobs," she herself, due to her own choices and inability to make smart, common sense decisions, isn't doing any work on her "freelance gig," because she is "constantly too stressed to focus on anything but going to sleep as soon as I’m not at work."

She then decided to castigate Jeremy Stoppelman, the CEO, who co-founded his company Yelp in 2004 and grew it into an empire after obtaining a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois in 1999, working at @Home Network, then at X.com, and later became the VP of Engineering after the company was renamed PayPal, before leaving PayPal to attend Harvard Business School, then doing a a summer internship at MRL Ventures before he and others came up with the idea for Yelp Inc. (Source)

Compare his work history to her complaint earlier in her letter where she whines about having to "work in support for an entire year before I would be able to move to a different department. A whole year answering calls and talking to customers just for the hope that someday I’d be able to make memes and twitter jokes about food."

Originally, I suggested that Eat24 offer a matching donation with customers where they can choose a donation amount during checkout and Eat24/Yelp would match it and donate those profits to a national food program. Maybe instead, you can let customers choose a donation amount during checkout and divide those proceeds among your employees who spend more than 60% of their income on rent? The ideal percent is 30%. As I said, I spend 80%. What do you spend 80% of your income on? I hear your net worth is somewhere between $111 million and $222 million. That’s a whole lotta rice.

Originally, I suggested that Eat24 offer special coupon codes where half of the code’s value ($1) goes to charity. Maybe instead, you can give half the code’s value ($1) to helping employees who live across the bay pay their transit fares? Mine are $226 monthly. According to this website, you’ve got a pretty nice house in the east bay. Have you ever been stranded inside a CVS because you can’t afford to get to work? How much do you pay your gardeners to keep that lawn and lovely backyard looking so neat?

So, after reading the entire letter, I was not surprised in the least to see an update from a couple hours later informing readers she had been terminated, with a lot of links to a bunch of donation accounts, hoping that people would see how much of a victim she was of her own choicesthat she blames the CEO of her former company for, and that they would give her their hard earned money.

Needless to say, some of the comments took her to task for her laziness, her choices, her lack of reasoning and her horrible decision making, while others used it as a "class warfare" forum.

The reason I highlight those two specifically out of some of the other great responses is the same reason I headlined this with "most millennials," rather than all of them, because both of these responses come from people around the same age as "Talia," but explain how they were willing to work to achieve their goals rather than expect everything to be handed to them and then whine publicly when it wasn't.

We at ANP have heard from readers that have had to obtain second jobs, taken on 60-70+ hour work weeks, are so exhausted they stop in to say hi in the comment section and tell everyone they miss them, but they have to work to survive. We have seen readers band together and help those that have had medical emergencies, so we understand that times are hard.... but I have no sympathy for those that bitterly complain when their own choices are the cause of their suffering, and refuse to take personal responsibility for those choices.

"Talia" is the perfect example of why most millennials will not survive an economic downturn will not be able to function when it all hits the fan, whatever the event or cause, and will be a burden on society, most likely, for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps the most ironic part of the "Talia" screed is that on her Twitter account, her profile includes the following statement "better at thinking about things than actually doing them."

Editors Note - We at ANP are very interested in what readers think about Talia's open letter, before reading the comments over at Medium in response to her letter. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below as well as your favorite responses from her screed.